An organisation that manages its resources well will use what it has available efficiently and effectively to achieve its goals and ensure the community will continue to grow and prosper locally, nationally and internationally.

Overview

3 projected outcomes

4 progress indicators

5 priorities identified

7 actions for 2014-15

Delivered via 10 service areas, 9 strategies / plans

Our approach

As an organisation, the City of Melbourne aims to constantly improve what we deliver and how we deliver it. We strive to make everything we do easier, better, faster and cheaper for our customers, gaining more value from our limited resources. Ensuring our ‘resources are managed well’ is about making sure we are financially sustainable as an organisation, our customers are satisfied with the service they receive and that we attract, retain and develop the workforce we need.

Issues and challenges

Third-party factors have slightly delayed the completion of a feasibility study for the future use of Council-owned land known as the Council House precinct and consideration of the study’s findings will occur in the new year. The work on a People Strategy will continue into the new year and be refocused to reflect the change in direction following our Organisational Capability Review.

Future directions

A major initiative in the coming year is developing a Town Hall Precinct Plan, including considering options such as library services and exhibition space for city memorabilia.

As an organisation where ‘resources are managed well’ we continue to look for ways to achieve this in every facet of what we do. Find out more on how we apply this approach throughout our business in these sections:

Continuous improvement

Our people describing our approach to fostering a talented, engaged workforce as well as safe and diverse workplace

Summary of 2014–15 actions

Detail about this year’s actions and activities to ensure resources are managed well can be found later in this chapter.

Major initiative: Implement the community engagement process agreed for the 10-Year Financial Plan

In a bold move to engage citizens in local democracy, the City of Melbourne invited a representative panel of 43 residents and business owners, selected by random sample, to recommend how the Council should manage its spending and revenue over the next 10 years. The ‘People’s Panel’ met five times from August to November 2014 and delivered 11 key recommendations on a range of issues from planning for more public open space to continuing to deliver a high standard of services and the redevelopment of the Queen Victoria Market. In arriving at its recommendations, the panel called on experts and considered the views of the community gathered from broader engagement. On 30 June, the Council unanimously endorsed its first 10 Year Financial Plan, which reflects most of the panel’s recommendations.

How we’re performing against our indicators of progress

The City of Melbourne aims for several outcomes over the four years of its Council Plan 2013–2017. We measure progress by the indicators below.

Projected outcome: Financial sustainability as an organisation

Indicator

The underlying surplus is the most appropriate measure of the City of Melbourne’s long term financial sustainability. Unlike the comprehensive result reflected in the Financial Statements, the underling surplus removes once-off non cash gains from revaluations and external contributions towards capital projects. In 2014–15 our underlying surplus was $16.52 million and higher than planned. Total operating expenditure was on budget with the higher underlying surplus attributed to higher revenues across most major revenue streams. The result has strengthened the City of Melbourne’s financial flexibility and goes some way towards funding important and significant infrastructure that has been identified in our 10-Year Financial Plan.

Indicator

Customer satisfaction with how City of Melbourne staff deliver services.

Time period (Financial Year)

Customer satisfaction with our services

2013–14

74 / 100

2014–15

73 / 100

Our progress

The score of 73 out of a possible 100 is drawn from an annual survey by the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure of residents’ satisfaction with their local council’s customer service performance. This year’s result reflects a non-statistically significant decrease of one point from last year.

Projected outcome: The attraction, retention and development of the workforce we need

Our progress

Our workforce turnover rate (including voluntary and involuntary turnover) for all staff types this year was almost 17 per cent, up from the previous year.

Success for Indigenous Trainee Program

For the second year running, a City of Melbourne trainee was nominated for the Aplus Koori Trainee of the Year. Congratulations to City of Melbourne Indigenous trainee graduate Bridget Caldwell. Bridget completed her 12-month traineeship in the Human Resources team in February 2014 and was successful in obtaining a fixed-term role in the same area until February 2015. This year three Indigenous trainees completed their traineeships in the Human Resources, Engineering Services and Community Services teams.

Our 4-year priorities are …

Our 2014–15 focus was …

Over the next year we will …

Develop and endorse a 10-Year financial strategy

Implement the community engagement process agreed for the 10-Year Financial Plan

Status: Completed

Complete and implement the financing and funding strategy for the Queen Victoria Market renewal project

Maximise the return on our existing or potential commercial assets

Review the Town Hall venue management contract taking into consideration the existing Council grant programs to determine the optimum operational and financial model

Status: Ongoing

Complete a feasibility study for the future use of council-owned land known as Council House precinct (including Council House One, 225 Bourke Street and associated properties)

Status: Ongoing

Review governance and processes for decision making on capital works projects to embed sustainability and transparent reporting

Status: Completed

Review the complete real estate portfolio and make recommendations on future portfolio rationalisations

(Major initiative) Develop a Town Hall Precinct Plan, including considering options such as library services and exhibition space for city memorabilia

Progress people strategy by introducing a strategic workforce planning model, determine immediate high risk areas and develop managers who have high risk areas to implement and manage action plans

Status: Ongoing

Determine and implement four-year People Strategy

Ongoing actions

Several actions not completed in 2014–15 will continue to be delivered in the 2015–16 financial year. Some relate to projects that span multiple years. Some actions were delayed due to unforeseeable external factors.

Purchase of Munro site for Queen Victoria Market renewal

The City of Melbourne was the successful bidder for the purchase of properties at Therry, Queen and Franklin streets, Melbourne, which sold for $76 million. This historic site is of unprecedented strategic importance to the people of Melbourne and the purchase unlocks enormous potential for the Queen Victoria Market precinct renewal.

Emergency response at Docklands

City of Melbourne staff flew into action and worked tirelessly to coordinate the relief and recovery effort following the fire at a Docklands apartment block in November. About 430 people were evacuated to a relief centre at Etihad stadium and provided with temporary shelter, blankets, food, counselling and access to wi-fi and telephones.

Runners up in IPWEA Asset Management Award for Excellence

The City of Melbourne engineering team was recognised by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) for implementing a sophisticated asset management system to manage assets over $1 billion. The system allows us to manage the workflow using work-orders and track information about assets using geographic information system (GIS) features. It also produces a number of reports to help track contractor performance and improve staff efficiency.